PDFs are essential for invoices, reports, and documents that need consistent formatting. Here's how to generate them programmatically in Node.js.
Library Options#
Puppeteer/Playwright:
- HTML/CSS to PDF
- Best for complex layouts
- Requires headless browser
PDFKit:
- Low-level PDF creation
- Full control over output
- No external dependencies
pdf-lib:
- Modify existing PDFs
- Create from scratch
- Works in browser too
React-PDF:
- React components for PDF
- Declarative approach
- Great developer experience
HTML to PDF with Puppeteer#
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React-PDF#
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PDFKit for Fine Control#
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PDF with Tables (pdfmake)#
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Best Practices#
Performance:
✓ Cache static assets (fonts, images)
✓ Use worker threads for generation
✓ Queue PDF jobs for heavy workloads
✓ Stream large PDFs
Quality:
✓ Embed fonts for consistency
✓ Use vector graphics when possible
✓ Test on different PDF readers
✓ Optimize file size
Security:
✓ Sanitize user input in content
✓ Set appropriate permissions
✓ Don't expose generation endpoints
Conclusion#
Choose the right tool for your needs—Puppeteer for complex HTML layouts, React-PDF for declarative design, PDFKit for fine control. Queue heavy generation tasks and cache where possible.
Always test generated PDFs across different viewers for consistency.